


A lie told often enough becomes the truth

by emothy



Category: Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-19
Updated: 2006-11-19
Packaged: 2017-10-04 05:25:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emothy/pseuds/emothy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fuji plays mind games with Echizen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A lie told often enough becomes the truth

-

Fuji does not dislike Echizen; in fact, he likes the freshmen a lot. He has attitude; sometimes too much it's true, but from the start at Seigaku various members penalised him for his talents. It is only one of his survival tactics.

Fuji does not know if his opinion matters much to Echizen, because the boy seems so unimpressed so often, but before he left, Tezuka asked him to try and boost Ryoma's confidence.

"He may not look like he needs it, but I think he does."

And that was all Tezuka had said on the subject. It was Fuji's way to nod agreement and not question why. He simply begun to look for himself and see if Tezuka's suspicions were true.

It was not hard to compliment Ryoma during or after a match, or to rely on him before one; every word spoken was true. He was an amazing talent, and he would do great things, if only he wanted to. Watching, Fuji had determined that he in fact did not.

Ryoma's father had been a big tennis pro, and living in that shadow was what drove Ryoma to try and break away from it. Tezuka had tried to deter him from having that as his only goal, but now that he was gone, Fuji could sense Ryoma's frustration. Tezuka had only switched the will to win from his own father to Tezuka himself. Maybe that had been his plan all along; it was no secret to Fuji that Tezuka would enjoy being beaten just once by someone really deserving of it. He had tried to make Fuji that someone. And now that there was a rival for it, perhaps he should do something about it. But it wasn't Fuji's way.

Instead, he would see if he could direct Ryoma's interest to the game itself. Though how he would do that he did not know; Fuji didn't know why he himself played the game, except that Yuuta had made him play when they were young, and he had found it a wonderful way to people-watch.

"Why do you play tennis, Echizen?" He whispered near Ryoma's ear during a practice match with one of the second years. It didn't put him off completely, but there was a noticeable twitch in Ryoma's shoulders when Fuji spoke. An unanswerable question, because the truth was unspeakable. I play to beat people. Not for love, or enjoyment, not for a friend or family, not for thrill or skill, and not even for the sake of winning. Just to beat two certain people. And Fuji would be a stepping stone to them, that he knew.

"Does Tezuka know your intentions, do you think?" He enquired innocently one day, in the middle of a completely different conversation. Echizen knew what he meant, but Fuji was gone before he could react.

"Would he still want you to support Seigaku if he knew?"

Soon Fuji did not need to ask the questions aloud; he could see it on Ryoma's face, he was asking them to himself. Was he being doubted by someone he did truly admire? Were his motives and intentions truly wrong?

The worst part was that Fuji began to wonder too. If he searched for eternity and still could not find his true potential, or the real reason why he played tennis, would Tezuka still have any interest in him?

He kept himself awake at night, and knew Ryoma was in the same position in his own bed, in his own room. Some moments, they both wished Tezuka would not come back, not just yet.

-


End file.
